THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9509280136
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E8 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Prince, ``The Gold Experience'' (Warner Bros./NPG)
It's enough to get you irked at the Artist Formerly Known As Prince. After spending the better part of a year running around the world griping about his relationship with Warner Bros. (painting the word ``slave'' on his face for public appearances, among other things) and about delays in the release of this album, he finally mends fences with the company and lets the record out.
It may be going a bit far to place this one in the company of classic Prince albums like ``Sign o' the Times.'' Then again, it may not. To be sure, though, ``The Gold Experience'' probably is the best, most assured work the guy has released in a good few years. Where the potential for exasperation comes in is the fact that this CD was already completed when he issued the near-totally lackluster ``Come'' last year.
Complaints should cease when ``The Gold Experience's'' familiar, but wholly fresh, modus operandi kicks in. Beginning with the hilariously lewd (and pro-feminist) funk of ``P Control,'' ending with the fairly ravishing ``Gold,'' and with plenty of room for great hooks, killer guitar and, oh yeah, more hilariously lewd funk, ``The Gold Experience'' is no reason to stay mad.
- Rickey Wright, Virginian-Pilot
The Mavericks, ``Music for All Occasions'' (MCA)
This whole lounge thing has gone too far when the Mavericks, one of the happiest and most surprising country-music success stories of the past few years, end their third album with a duet between frontman Raul Malo and Trisha Yearwood - on ``Something Stupid,'' the campy 1967 Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit. She's a guest, for gosh sakes (and bassist Robert Reynolds' better half). Why not give her a tune she can really bite into? There are a few here, most notably the first single, ``Here Comes the Rain,'' and ``The Writing on the Wall.'' Unfortunately, rather than simply sticking to their strong suits of Orbison-esque drama and '50s-style shuffles, the Mavericks spend a bit too much of this disc apparently trying to provide sounds for occasions like weddings. Hokey touches like the female chorus on ``Foolish Heart'' and ``One Step Away's'' cheesy organ may seem like hip jokes or even honest hi-fi homage to the band, but they're simply not funny, and not fun.
- Rickey Wright, Virginian-Pilot
G. Love & Special Sauce, ``Coast To Coast Motel'' (OKeh/Epic)
With its sauntering postmodern mix of hip-hop and blues, G. Love & Special Sauce's self-titled debut made many a critic's best-of list last year. The Boston-based trio's ``Coast To Coast Motel'' is bound to do the same.
Waxed in steamy New Orleans and helmed (all but three tracks) by legendary Memphis producer/musician Jim Dickinson, gutsy blues is ``Motel's'' main focus. Standout cuts: the greasy groove ``Kiss and Tell''; ``Bye Bye Baby,'' a crackling live jam with a New Orleans brass band; the languorous, harmonica-tinged homecoming tale ``Tomorrow Night.''
And while he gives melody a go on a few tracks, it is his own charmingly whacked street patois that proves G. Love one of rap's most distinctive stylists.
- Sue Smallwood, Virginian-Pilot
M.C. Hammer, ``V Inside Out'' (Giant)
Except for the bitter, self-justifying liner notes, Hammer's fifth album is in the mode of his early-'90s multiplatinum sellers ``Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em'' and ``Too Legit to Quit.'' You know the drill: Hooks borrowed from soul and funk classics (Chuck Brown's ``Bustin' Loose'' among the most notable this time) spice the mix of party tunes and religion-laced social comment. If his claims to being a ``hip-hop OG'' don't ring quite as ludicrous as they did on last year's ``Funky Headhunter,'' though, it's only because he's now more worthy of pity than scorn. Insisting on his continued relevance and praising the late Eazy-E as ``real,'' Hammer comes off like your aging uncle trying to stay hip. None of this hides the fact that ``V'' is overlong, repetitive and stale - a snooze-inducing flop.
- Rickey Wright, Virginian-Pilot by CNB